Palermo Coach Giuseppe Sannino returned to the job after their disastrous run, but believes they can achieve safety. “It would be a masterpiece.”

The tactician was fired after just three rounds, but returned last week after GianPieroGasperini – twice – and Alberto Malesani had been and gone on the bench.

“It will be difficult to survive, but if we do manage it, then it’d be a masterpiece that everyone would be talking about,” Sannino told Radio Crc.

“Now we have to think about the next game and try to give our all. We must do our work as well as possible and then, at the end of the season, see where we end up.”

Palermo are currently propping up the Serie A table on 21 points alongside Pescara, five points adrift of the safety zone.

“My job is tough, but I do not lack enthusiasm. Until the statistics say we are relegated, then I will continue believing we can be saved.

“I saw a Palermo side that was alive against Milan and that is what I wanted. I saw Josip Ilicic track back and suffer, so he made clear what kind of a guy he really is.”

Sannino also commented on the recent controversy over Antonio Conte’s celebration when Juventus beat Bologna.

“I don’t like hypocrisy, I like real people. Any Coach would celebrate a positive result. Football must return to what it was, where people felt free to celebrate and raise their arms to the sky.

“I will not accept those who try to moralise and say his gesture was exaggerated. I also don’t like players refusing to celebrate a goal against their former club. It’s not a lack of respect, as football is a game, it is joy and it is celebration.”

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